A New City to Explore

Day two of the international media trip began with an early start and an almost traditional English breakfast, before traveling to Regent’s University. We took the Tube—the English version of a subway—to the University where we met with professor Jason MacKenzie.

The United Kingdom Media Landscape

We started the lecture with a conversation about social media platforms becoming news content providers. Like the United States, the UK is seeing a switch from traditional media—print, broadcast, and radio—digital media in terms of how people are receiving their news. The problem with social media, however, is that it creates echo chambers.

Echo chambers refer to a metaphorical description of a situation in which beliefs are amplified/ reinforced by communication and repetition inside a closed system. So for example, if you are a person who believes that the earth is flat and that’s all you talk about on social media, then the algorithm will only push content that aligns with that subject. The problem with echo chambers is that it makes people closed-minded.

We also discussed the state of journalism in the UK. With the rise of the digitize world, people expect news every second of the day making it difficult for journalists because they are expected to create more with little to no time to create strong stories.

Transitioning into the Digital Age

Like the United States, the United Kingdom is in the midst of a transition period from traditional media—print, television, and radio—to more digitalized form of media. If traditional forms of media don’t work to stay relevant in the new digital age then it is quite possible that they will fade from relevancy.

Another issue that seems to be globalized, is the rise of “citizen journalists.” Citizen journalism is the collection, dissemination, and analysis of news and information by the general public, especially by means of the Internet.

Social media platforms allow everyday people to have a voice and an audience, allowing for citizen journalism to be possible. It isn’t uncommon for someone to film something on their phone that could then be picked up on by a TV station.

The problem with citizen journalists are that they aren’t real journalists, they don’t follow the same ethics and report rather than investigate. Issues occur when information on an event becomes unclear and wrongly reported. Professor Jason Mackenzie said it best by stating that there is no such thing as citizen journalists, just citizen witnesses.

A Night Full of Sightseeing and Memory Making

After leaving Regent’s University, we had the rest of the day to explore London. We took the Tube over to the South Bank where we bought tickets to ride the London Eye.

The London Eye is a giant Ferris wheel, towering high above London opposite of Big Ben. It is one of the world’s highest observational wheels, and offers an amazing view of the city.

After riding the London Eye, we went to a Sherlock Holmes themed restaurant for lunch before heading back to the hotel where we got ready to go to the Cauldron, a Harry Potter themed bar.

Imagine combining the interactive aspect of the Universal Harry Potter theme park with a bar and you’ve got the Cauldron. We were given wands that interacted with different parts of the bar, and we made our drinks as if we were in a “potions class.”

As a Harry Potter fanatic, it was an amazing place to end our second night in London.